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Standing in the sunshine next to City Hall on the south bank of the Thames, the Prince had to show his own speed out of the blocks when a gust of wind blew his speech off the lectern. He swiftly retrieved it and told his laughing audience: “No blowing from the left, thank you!”

Flanked by cars supplied by the Games sponsor, Jaguar Land Rover, the Prince said: “Prosthetics, dogs, wheelchairs, high-performance cars, 4x4s, tattoos - we've got everything here. It could only be the Invictus Games.

"These men and women here have achieved so much already but being selected for this team is another significant milestone in their life beyond injury."

The Prince made a fuss of the British team’s mascot, a five-year-old black Labrador called Fire who was injured by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2012 while working as a bomb detection dog with 2nd Bn The Rifles.

The British team includes Cpl Ricky Furgusson, 29, who received the Military Cross from the Queen in 2010 after he lost both legs, an eye and five fingers in a bomb blast in Afghanistan earlier the same year after he risked his life helping wounded comrades at the front line four times.

Cpl Ricky Furgusson will sprint for Britain at the Invictus Games

Cpl Furgusson, of 4th Bn The Rifles, who hopes to compete in the 100m, 200m and 400m sprints, said: “It’s a great opportunity for us injured guys because we need a target and the Invictus Games is a great target which is going to make us train hard and keep fit.

“I have got no choice now but to hit the running track, when before running was just an option. Who knows, I might even make it to the Paralympics in Rio. I’m interested in training for the hand-cycling to see if I can make the team for that.”

L/Cpl Derek Derenalagi, of 2nd Bn, The Mercian Regiment, who competed in the discus event at the London 2012 Paralympics, will throw the discus and shot as well as running in the 100m and 200m on blades.

L/Cpl Derek Derenalagi was declared dead in Afghanistan, but went on to compete at London 2012

The 39-year-old married father-of-two, from Hertfordshire, was pronounced dead after losing both legs to an improvised explosive device (IED) in Helmand Province in 2007, but medical staff at Camp Bastion realised he still had a pulse as he was being prepared for a body bag.

He said: “The Invictus Games is engaging servicemen and women to achieve things that weren’t possible for them to achieve before. Most of my colleagues won’t make it to the Paralympics but the Invictus Games will give them a chance to compete and for the public to thank them for their contribution.

“I spent time in hospital with a lot of these guys and I can’t believe how far they have turned their lives around since then. To be part of the first Invictus Games is a real honour.”

Sir Keith Mills, the deputy chairman of the London 2012 organising committee and one of the organisers of the Invictus Games, said: “The British team is large - as is the American team - but this is in proportion to the casualties that each nation suffered.

"Part of the point of the games is to show how important sport is on the road to recovery.

"Twenty per cent of these guys will go on to compete in the Paralympics in Rio and we also want to send the message to other countries that sport is a great way of rehabilition."